Well lookie here! The Pulse Of Radio says Audioslave will reunite for its first performance in more than a decade when the band appears this Friday (Jan 20th) at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles. The group will perform at the “Anti-Inaugural Ball,” protesting the inauguration that day of Donald Trump as POTUS. The show, billed as “Prophets Of Rage and Friends,” will also feature sets from Vic Mensa, Jackson Browne, Jack Black and the Los Angeles Freedom Choir in addition to the headliners.
Audioslave consisted of Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and the instrumental members of Rage Against The Machine: guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk.
The group came together in 2001 following the then-dissolution of both Soundgarden and Rage, releasing three studio albums and a historic concert set recorded in Cuba before Cornell exited in 2007, ending the band.
Morello was recently asked about the chances of an Audioslave reunion in an interview with Music Radar, to which he replied, “That door has certainly never closed in any way, but right now, it’s looking like we’re pretty busy . . . whatever happens in the future, Chris is one of the greatest singers of all time, and there’s no way I couldn’t be proud of the shows and music we played together.”
Morello, Commerford and Wilk are currently in Prophets Of Rage with Public Enemy MC Chuck D and Cypress Hill MC B-Real. That outfit formed last year and toured, with plans to release an album in 2017.
A Perfect Circle is starting work on its first new studio album since 2004’s eMOTIVe and guitarist Billy Howerdel says the band has “every intention” of making new music available to fans in 2017 as it heads out on tour. Speaking with Billboard, Howerdel said, “We’re not promising anything, but I have every intention of doing my best to have us playing some new tracks during this run — with the idea that new music is coming very soon after.”
The band’s tour — its first full-fledged trek since 2011 — kicks off in Las Vegas on April 7th and 8th. The schedule will include appearances at the Welcome To Rockville, Fort Rock and Carolina Rebellion festivals in late April and early May, along with a closing night stop at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 7th.
A Perfect Circle has been largely inactive on the recording front for the past 13 years, with only a new song titled “By And Down” surfacing on a hits collection in 2013. The group was an instant success when it first came on the scene in 2000 with its debut album, Mer De Noms, and Howerdel told us a while back how he felt about the band’s early success: “I was appreciative then, I’m certainly appreciative now of how everything came together — how all the forces came together and made it happen, and all the timing worked out, with the Nine Inch Nails tour, opening for them, and, you know, having key people at Virgin Records believe in us and ferociously campaign to market the band in the right way, and Maynard (James Keenan, singer)‘s reputation with Tool in place. . . everything just came together.”
During the time that the band has been mostly on hiatus, Howerdel launched an act called Ashes Divide, while Maynard James Keenan toured and recorded with Tool and Puscifer while also running a winery, as well as promoting his autobiography recently.
Howerdel said, “To be honest, I thought (a comeback) would be a few years earlier . . . it felt like a few years ago it was going to happen, but this is just the way the schedules lined up. But I’m always excited to get the machine back up and going.”
Meanwhile, Billy to me he also was working on the score for an independent film his friends did called “D Love.” He also has some other irons in the fire to do more scoring work. Good fellow, that Howerdel dude. Did you know he was once the guitar tech for Tool?
M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold in Germany
Blabbermouth reporting Live Nation Germany recently conducted an interview with Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates and vocalist M. Shadows. You can now watch the chat here.
Asked to name the best current rock and/or metal band around, M. Shadows said: “Gojira, for me. They’re awesome.”
Pressed about whether A7X still gets inspired by other bands and incorporates that influence into its own music, M. Shadows said: “If they do something cool. I don’t go out there and go, ‘Oh, this is more of the same,’ but if something’s, like, really badass and cool.”
He continued: “I was listening to Wolfmother the other day, and I was listening to Gojira, and I was thinking, ‘Man, both these bands probably had the same influences, but they both have done something completely different with them.’ It’s probably the (Black) Sabbath, the [Led] Zeppelin influences, but both bands [put] their own twist on what their interpretation of the old rock is.’
M. Shadows added: “For me, a band like Gojira brings something really cool and new to the table. And the latest David Bowie record, to me, is really innovative; ‘Blackstar’ is amazing. There’s a lot of stuff that’s very cool that is very influential.”
The band made The Stage album available at midnight on Oct 27 with almost no promotion beforehand, save for the arrival of a new song one week earlier.
Fieldy, open your eyes! It’s JD’s birthday, dammit!
Happiest of birthdays to my friend Jonathan Davis of Kornwho turns 46 today! Hard to believe I’ve known him since 1994! Love ya, JD!